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Michal Handzus
| birth_place = Banská Bystrica, Czechoslovakia | career_start = 1995 | draft = 101st overall | draft_year = 1995 | draft_team = St. Louis Blues | former_teams = St. Louis Blues Phoenix Coyotes Philadelphia Flyers Chicago Blackhawks Los Angeles Kings San Jose Sharks }} Michal Handzus (born on March 11, 1977) is a Slovak professional ice hockey centre currently playing for HC ’05 Banská Bystrica of the Slovak Extraliga. Playing Career Michal was drafted 101st overall in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft by the St. Louis Blues, playing with them for two and a half seasons from 1998–99 to 2000–01. The St. Louis Blues threesome Pavol Demitra, Ľubos Bartecko and Michal were known as the Slovak Pack line. Michal finished second in voting for the Frank J. Selke Trophy following the 1999–2000 season. He was then traded on March 13, 2001 with Ladislav Nagy, Jeff Taffe and two first-round draft picks to the Phoenix Coyotes for Keith Tkachuk. He spent two seasons with Phoenix. On June 12, 2002, Michal was traded with Robert Esche to the Philadelphia Flyers for Brian Boucher and a third-round draft pick. On December 5, 2002, he became only the second player in NHL history to score a penalty shot goal in overtime. Michal became a fan favorite in Philadelphia. In the 2003–04 season, Michal finished second on the Flyers with 58 points, and signed a three-year contract with Philadelphia in the off-season. During the 2004-05 NHL lockout, he played for the HKm Zvolen which reached the playoff finals in the Slovak Extraliga. On August 4, 2006, Michal was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks for Kyle Calder. Only eight games into his season with Chicago, however, he suffered a torn ACL which sidelined him for the remainder of the 2006–07 season. On July 2, 2007, Michal signed a four-year, $16 million deal with the Los Angeles Kings. On July 1, 2011, he signed a two-year contract worth $5 million with the San Jose Sharks. During the lockout shortened 2012–13 season, on April 1, 2013, Michal was traded by the Sharks back to the Chicago Blackhawks for a 4th round draft pick. On June 24, 2013, he and the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Boston Bruins 3-2 in Game 6 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals by scoring two goals in the final 1:30 from Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland to close out the series and win the Stanley Cup with a 4-2 record in the Finals. On July 5, 2013, Michal signed a one year contract to remain with the Chicago Blackhawks. On March 19, 2014, he participated in his 1,000th NHL game. On May 28, 2014, with the Blackhawks facing elimination in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, Michal scored a game-winning goal in double-overtime against Los Angeles Kings, the eventually Stanley Cup champions. On June 16, 2014, after the Blackhawks had been eliminated from playoff contention, the team announced that they would not be re-signing Michal after the season. He subsequently became an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2014. Career Statistics Regular season and playoffs International Statistics International Play }} Category:1977 births Category:Chicago Blackhawks players Category:St. Louis Blues draft picks Category:St. Louis Blues players Category:Phoenix Coyotes players Category:Philadelphia Flyers players Category:Los Angeles Kings players Category:San Jose Sharks players Category:Slovak ice hockey players Category:Banska Bystrica HC 05 players Category:Worcester IceCats players